Bill Gates is now tweeting on Twitter

Microsoft founder Bill Gates is taking to social networking in a big way, not only has he got his own page on Facebook but today he rocked the social mediaverse with the revelation that he has begun tweeting on Twitter.

Gates is not only using the medium of Facebook – in which Microsoft has a 1.6pc stake – to promote the efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, but the Windows creator has in the past few hours taken to social media phenomenon Twitter with his own profile.

There are many blogs, Twitter profiles and more online entities that have purported to be Gates or other Silicon Valley personas like Apple CEO Steve Jobs and indeed an @BillGates Twitter profile has been in existence.

But this time, @BillGates is the real deal. Bill Gates’ account on Twitter carries the “Verified Account” approval from Twitter, a mechanism it uses to prevent identity confusion and establish individual authenticity.

The Seattle-based billionaire is currently only following 40 people but in the few hours that he has been on the 140-characters-per- message site, he has amassed a whopping 153,225 followers.

Gates’ Twitter account doesn’t reveal too much activity, except to show that he is following Time magazine for updates on earthquake-devastated Haiti and is corresponding with celebrity TV mogul Ryan Seacrest on providing relief to that country.